STATEMENT

by Chargée d’Affaires of Ukraine to the United Nations Khrystyna Hayovyshyn 

at the UN Security Council meeting on “Threats to international peace and security”

(31 July 2025)

Mr. President,

The Security Council is meant to meet and discuss real problems – threats to international peace and security. And the name of the real problem is written on that country nameplate – Russian Federation. There are no two parties attacking civilians. There is one country – Russia – one problem for peace and security in Ukraine, in our region and globally.

Just last night, on the eve of this meeting, Russia unleashed yet another ruthless assault on Ukraine with 309 UAVs and 8 cruise missiles from different directions. As of now, eleven people were killed in the attack on Kyiv with the death toll rising and one child among them. Another 135 civilians were wounded across the capital including 11 children.

Ukraine has requested the Presidency to convene a separate Security Council meeting to discuss these real attacks on peace and security.

Let us be clear here. Today’s meeting – convened at the request of the Russian Federation – is both cynical and morally repugnant. The very state that launched the largest war of aggression in Europe since World War II now attempts to portray itself as a victim of so-called “Western interference.”

This is not only a grotesque distortion of reality which is used by the Russian state for years – it is also an insult – to the multilateralism, to the United Nations, to the principles enshrined in its Charter, to all of you, distinguished members of the Security Council. But above all, to the memory of the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who were killed as a result of Russia’s war of aggression.

We should make no mistake – Russia has no genuine interest in peace. If it did, it could end its war at any moment. But instead, it continues to pursue conquest, domination and the total destruction of a sovereign state – Ukraine.

Let us also recall the basics.

In this century alone, Russia has invaded Ukraine twice:

- First, in 2014, with the illegal occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions;

- Then again, in 2022, when it launched a full-scale war of aggression.

These actions represent blatant violations of the UN Charter and the core principles of international law. You all agree to that.

At this very moment, Russia is still trying to illegally occupy more Ukrainian territory.

It bombs cities, targets civilian infrastructure, kills innocent people every single day.

It has staged sham referenda, denied Ukraine’s sovereignty and works openly to erase our independence and statehood.

And yet – while committing these egregious violations – it dares to accuse others of undermining peace.

Mr. President,

Simultaneously, the Kremlin continues to fuel its war of aggression and draw other actors into its campaign of terror.

Since 2022, Iran has supplied the Russian Federation with hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles – flagrantly violating Security Council resolution 2231 while its restrictions remained in force.

This impunity for gross violations of international law by both Russia and Iran has emboldened others – particularly the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – to exploit the situation and advance their own destabilizing agendas.

Since 2023, the regimes in Moscow and Pyongyang have significantly deepened their military and military-technical cooperation, including unlawful arms transfers and the reported deployment of North Korean military personnel in support of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.

Russia’s war machine is now being sustained by Iran and the DPRK – in direct violation of multiple Security Council resolutions and the foundational norms of international law.

It receives drones, missiles and ammunition from these regimes as well as dual-use goods and equipment supplied by Chinese companies. This enables Moscow to prolong its war and escalate the suffering of our people.

We continue to recover foreign-manufactured components from Russian missiles and drones used to strike our civilian infrastructure. This stark reality highlights the urgent need for coordinated international action to halt the flow of materials and technologies that fuel Russia’s armed aggression.

Mr. President,

Let us speak plainly about Russia’s true motives.

Its war of aggression is not about so-called “protection” of Russian-speaking populations, “denazification” or “demilitarization” of Ukraine.

And it is not about NATO. Russia claims it invaded Ukraine to prevent NATO expansion. Yet by its actions it has achieved the opposite. Russia now shares hundreds of kilometers of new border with NATO.

And of course, it is not about so-called security concerns of the Russian Federation. Because what security guarantees are needed for the largest nuclear-armed state in the world whose officials have repeatedly threatened to use these nuclear weapons against Ukraine and other states.

At its core, this war is about the survival of the Kremlin’s authoritarian regime, which has ruled the Russian Federation with an iron grip for over a quarter of a century. It is also about imperialistic ambitions of Russia, which tries to eliminate Ukraine as a state from the political map of the world and to destroy Ukrainians as a nation.

Faced with domestic stagnation, a shrinking economy, demographic decline and rising political dissent, the Kremlin chose war as a tool of distraction and repression.

Russian justifications for the war we have been hearing since 2014 are pure lies – what Putin and his regime truly seek are consolidation of power, violence and absence of freedom in Russia and in the countries bordering with Russia.

And this is why Russia is consciously continuing this war – losing every day over 1000 of its own soldiers on the battlefield. Overall, it has already lost over 1 million soldiers. Moscow regime doesn’t care about them and is ready to sacrifice even more for these very reasons.

Distinguished Members of the Council,

The Moscow regime will not stop on its own. Left unchallenged, it will continue down a path of killing and destruction – aggression, occupation, rape, torture, the deportation of children and the systematic violation of international law and the UN Charter.

We will continue to defend our people, Ukraine’s sovereignty and future of our children. We seek a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, grounded in the principles of the UN Charter and nothing less.

We repeat a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire is essential. It is the first step to halting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Peace will not come through appeasement or equalizing the aggressor and its victim – it will come through unity of the free world, determination and justice.

The UN Security Council has a critical role to play here. Its voice must be strong, its stance unmistakable: this war must end, peace must prevail, and international law must be upheld, accountability served.

Without such clarity and resolve from the Council, no combination of pressure, sanctions or military support can deliver durable results. A just and lasting peace begins with a firm and unified message from this body.

That is why we call on all members of this Council to support a French-initiated resolution calling for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. A ceasefire that would apply on land, at sea and in the air — creating the necessary conditions for peace in accordance with the UN Charter.

Now is the time for this Council to come together and to demonstrate the unity and resolve needed to help end this war.

In the meantime, we are profoundly grateful to all our partners and allies. Your military support is not only a lifeline for Ukraine, it is a defense of international law and the rules-based order, where aggression is not rewarded.

There is only one path to ending this war: Russia must be pushed back – economically with strong sanctions, politically and militarily. It has to be demilitarized. This country is a threat to all of you. If we fail to stop Russia now, its armed aggression will not end with Ukraine. Others will be emboldened. And the world will become a far more dangerous place for us all.

We also must make sure that existing sanctions are enforced. How is it possible that Russian individuals under sanctions, those who directly support and enable this war, are still flying freely and participating in international events as if nothing has happened?
What message does that send to the aggressor – and to the victims?

Mr. President,

At last week’s Security Council meeting, the Russian Federation said nothing about ending the war. Not a single word. Instead, it obsessively fixated on Ukraine’s internal affairs.

Today it pretends to talk peace with one hand, and to kill innocent civilians in a sovereign state with the other.

This obsession is revealing: Russia cannot stand Ukraine’s development, democracy, language or identity. Its goal is to destroy everything we have built.

We often hear: “No one will win this war.” We see it differently.

International law must win.

The UN Charter must win.

The principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of internationally recognized borders and the independence of states must win.

Because if Ukraine’s borders are not secure – will yours be?

This war is not only about territory. It is about domination, repression and fear. The Moscow regime’s insatiable hunger for occupying foreign lands exposes its deep-rooted greed — despite Russia being the largest country in the world by landmass, it still fails to provide basic well-being and security for its own people and cannot manage its own territories, many of which are in a state of decline.

Do not fear Russia. Do not let yourselves be misled or manipulated by its propaganda and paralyzed by its threats, including the rhetoric you have heard also at today’s meeting. The only way to end this war is to confront its cause — Russia’s aggression — with unity, resolve and action.

Let us make sure that a year from now, we are not gathered here to count more victims, but to mark the restoration of peace, justice and security — not only for Ukraine, but for the entire international system.

Thank you.

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UN Photo/Manuel Elias